Off Course
by bambooplant123
Summary: Set between Book 3 and 4. Follow the Four Fallen's companions as they travel around Erdas to claim what is rightfully theirs- The Iron Boar. But it isn't as simple as that. The Conquerors will stop at nothing to make sure the Greencloaks and Rollan don't succeed.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Although I wish I do, sadly, I do not own Spirit Animals. Or else Meilin and Rollan would have kissed already...**

**A/N: I did NOT make this alone. Three others from a different website and I wrote this together. We each played a character from the books.**

**Rollan- ZeusPoseidon129**

**Conor- BrownWolf123**

**Abeke- HeroineRabbit4**

**Meilin- IvoryDusk16 (Me!)**

Chapter One

The Golden Gate

Rollan watched as his friends laughed and had fun. He didn't want to join them. He knew he didn't fit in. Truthfully, he didn't know much about Abeke. He felt like talking to her might be awkward after this conversation they'd had not too long ago. It wasn't anything special, just talking about their summoning of the Great Beasts, Essix and Uraza. But that always made him feel weird. They'd all had ceremonies and rituals. Sure, Conor had been sent away right after and his mother had been practically enslaved to Devin Turnswick to take Conor's place as his servant. And Conor had left Eura, leaving his family and joining the Greencloaks. And Abeke had been thought to be the new Rain Dancer, when it turned out she really wasn't going to be staying in Nilo with her sister and her father. She'd been kidnapped by the Conquerers and thought that _they _were the good guys until the Greencloaks had convinced her otherwise. And Meilin, her ceremony had been ended quickly because of an attack by the Conquerers and she'd been forced to leave her father behind as she was snatched from Zhong by the Greencloaks, but in a more rescuing way than 'snatching'. Now he was dead.

But they'd _had _ceremonies. They'd all joined the Greencloaks right away. Rollan had been caught in a scheme to save a friend's life. His friend was sick and dying, and he had to get some expensive medicine. He'd explained to the store owner what was wrong and asked if he could do some work to make the money for the medicine, but he'd been denied and asked to leave. Just before he did however, which made it look like he was distracting the store clerk, one of his friends had stolen the medicine and got it back to the dying fellow street rat.

Rollan had been arrested and found by Zerif himself, one of the most powerful Conquerers. Before Zerif came, he'd been given nectar. It had nearly made him pass out, he'd been dizzy and everything, and then there was the falcon. Essix the falcon, the last of the Four Fallen to return, was there. She was his spirit animal. He'd had no ceremony. Just a homeless guy taking bets that he'd call nothing, a rat, and the person giving him the nectar. Zerif had come to bail him out later, which had been fine by Rollan until he decided that his suspicions were correct and it was time to bail. He'd run to escape Zerif, only to be rescued by a Greencloak and brought to a Greencloak tower, to safety. But he had the worst bond with Essix compared to the others. He couldn't play with Essix like Conor could with Briggan, and the others could. He and Essix were more like loners and had no idea how to work with a partner. Rollan still hadn't joined the Greencloaks.

And then there was Meilin...ever since Meilin had left to find her father a short time ago, he'd felt differently. He'd been depressed after she left and had been until she came back. Or, a little after, since at the time she came back, he was half dead and she stayed with him while Conor and Abeke went to get the cure. When he'd woken up, she wasn't there. He'd woken up for about a minute and been surprised to find her there for him, but she would still act like nothing had changed between them. He was certain that things were different. He felt different when he was with her. He didn't want to touch her, for fear of what he'd feel when he did. He didn't want to be alone with her, and he didn't want to talk to her without somebody else talking with them too.

And Conor...well, Conor was the only one there wasn't too much a problem talking to. He'd temporarily been angry with Conor, taunting him and being mean, but sometimes he'd forget, and have to remember what he was doing. Conor had given up the second talisman, which they were now trying to get back.

Sometimes he'd hung out with Meilin, but never really alone. He'd joked around, trying to make her feel better about her father, but it was hard to keep making jokes without her making fun of him. She probably did it to make herself feel better. He wondered sometimes if she just pretended that she was finding his jokes amusing and teasing him back because she wanted it to be believable.

But either way, she was making an effort, so that was good.

Rollan looked up at Essix, who was perched about two feet above him. "We don't need em', do we, Essix? We're better off without them."

It didn't help that Briggan had probably found a way to make Conor understand how he was feeling, since the wolf had superior hearing. He'd probably heard it, since a few moments later Conor called over, "Rollan! You wanna join us?" But Rollan wasn't ready to be a happy, joyful member of a group. Everybody knew him as somebody who cracked jokes but was never really happy. He wasn't a Greencloak, and that singled him out. He was totally alone.

Rollan looked at the golden gate that they were approaching, that was where Lenori had tracked the Iron Boar.

Rollan shook his head, "Nah, I'd rather sit here and get rained on." Sure enough, a few seconds later, the rain started. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" But he still did not join them over the covered part of the boat. He just leaned against the railing, and rested his head on his arms as he stared out at the sea.

He could hear them murmuring an argument beforehand, so it wasn't coming as a surprise when Meilin came to talk to him.

Meilin stood next to him, looking bitter about getting wet. "Why are you so difficult?" "What?" That hurt.

"I meant, why didn't you want to come talk to us?" "I don't think I belong." Rollan could tell that Essix had flown off, probably to go hang out with Uraza, Briggan, and Jhi. The Four Fallen, together. Too bad their partners weren't as easily together when the Falcon side of the team wasn't off winging it on their own.

"Why not?" Meilin asked?

"I just don't," Rollan looked down at the ocean again as his sopping wet hair clung to his face, covering his eyes, so he couldn't really see the ocean. It was just a way not to look at Meilin. "But you could," Meilin touched his arm and he flinched. She pulled her hand away and said, "Why don't you joke with them like how you joke with me?" Rollan shrugged, "It's easier with you." "Why?" _Because anything is funny to somebody who is trying to be humored out of their misery._

_Because anything is funny when I say it._

But the second wasn't exactly true to anyone but him, and the first was the truth. She'd probably hit him, or worse, leave him alone, if he said that.

"Because you are so easily entertained, you're like a child."

Mielin tried to hit him, but it was more playful. She almost had him too.

"I don't know," She said, "You seem pretty easily entertained too." "What makes you think that?" "Because you are laughing now." She said.

He was smiling at her failed attempt to make him laugh, but it wasn't laughter. He was not ready to be happy.

He pushed his hair back out of his face and sighed, "You have it easy. Everybody likes you." "Everybody _likes _me." "I have no idea what that means, but I already said that."

"I think you know what I mean," Meilin said.

Rollan figured she meant that all the guys thought she was really pretty. He agreed, but he wasn't going to make it obvious. If he didn't make it hard for her, what fun would that be? "Maybe," Rollan admitted, but that was all he had to say on the topic. "I just don't think I belong. You all get along so well. I'm more of a loner. You joined the Greencloaks. I didn't. You guys are too trusting, I trust nobody. And Essix doesn't even trust me, when all of you guys could do passive state by the time we'd gone for the first talisman."

"You could belong, you don't have to be alone. You talk to me." Meilin pointed out, "And you could join the Greencloaks, and its good that you don't trust too many, because I know why." "You do?" "You are afraid of being betrayed. You never had a family, so you grew up without trusting, so you are scared too." Meilin said, "If you trust, then you are opening yourself up for a painful betrayal. It's ok. Everybody's afraid that their friends will betray them at some point. And besides, if you don't trust Essix, how can you expect her to trust you?" She was right, and at the last part, she had a point.

But Rollan didn't care. "I just don't think I'm ready. Every time its the four of us, I feel like while you guys share private jokes I'm just making a fool of myself. I don't like talking to people about my feelings. It's too hard." "That's not true," Meilin lied, "Ok, the part about you making a fool of yourself...that's true. Sorry. But I mean, we don't hang out without you. We would invite you." Rollan raised an eyebrow at her. "Ok, that scene over there just kind of happened, and then Conor suggested we invite you. So what?"

Rollan shrugged, "I don't care, Meilin. Really, I'm used to being alone." Meilin gave him a curious look that made him forced to finish what he'd been going to say.

"So why does it suddenly hurt so much?"

**A/N: This story is already finished, but being the mean person I am... I won't update it all at once. Instead I shall leave you guys hanging for several days...**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Couldn't resist not updating this...**

* * *

Chapter Two

The Gate Guardians

Conor sat next to Briggan and looked gloomily into the distance. No, he wasn't thinking about Rollan. He was thinking about the first time they had gotten the Iron Boar. Conor had given the talisman away to the Conquerors so his family would be save. How could he have been so selfish? Sure, he was helping his family. But that talisman would have saved everyone in Erdas! His family would still be in danger! How could he have been so stupid? Now everyone besides Abeke hated him! Conor wouldn't even be surprised if he was no longer trused with talismans. He might give them away again!

Conor banged his head on the boat then cried a little in pain. He didn't know why he did it. Maybe because he was stupid! _ARGH!_ Conor thought. He rubbed his forehead. Then he looked at Briggan. Briggan shook his head, and Conor thought he was disappointed. Conor soon fell asleep.

Conor awoke to hear shouting. He got up to see it was morning. They had made it to the Golden Gate, but men had come aboard the ship. Tarik was talking to them, or more like arguing with them. Conor and Briggan went to the men to see what was going on.

"Is everything all right?" Conor asked.

"These men are the Guardians of the Golden Gate," Tarik explained. "and they say we cannot pass through."

"But what about the Iron Boar? The Conquerors?" Meilin asked as the rest of the four children came.

"They had something to offer us," one of the Guardians said.

"Like what?" Rollan asked.

"Like, _this_," said another Guardian. He held up a golden cat statue that had emerald eyes. "This is worth _a lot_. If you wanna got through the Gate, you have to pay."

"But we don't have anything to pay you with!" Conor said.

"No payment, no crossing," said another. "now get lost."

"Do you know who we are?" Meilin asked.

"Greencloaks," said a final Guardian.

"We're the four that summoned the Four Fallen," Rollan said. "Great Beats are our spirit animals. And we won't hesitate to use them if we have to."

"I knew I've seen that wolf and falcon from somewhere!" said the first Guardian.

"Then show us Uraza and Jhi," said the third.

Abeke and Meilin held up their arms and with a flash, the leopard and panda appeared. The four men gaped and gasped at the sight of Uraza, Jhi, Essix, and Briggan.

"So the rumors are true!" the second Guardian said.

"And the Devouror is back," Tarik said. "The Conquerors that passed through here have the Iron Boar, and it is very important that we get it, and all of the talismans before them. Or else Erdas with be destroyed."

"We still won't let you pass," the first said.

"Why not?" Conor asked.

"Why don't you go get the other talismans? What does _one_ talisman hurt?" asked the fourth.

"Come on, children. Let's have a little chat, alone," Tarik said.

He pulled us aside from the four Guardians. The men laughed thinking they got a victory. But they didn't know Meilin. The five Greencloaks and the Four Fallen went to the other side of the boat.

"Come one, Tarik, we can take them!" Rollan said.

"Yeah, there's only four of them," Meilin said.

"I've heard of the Guardians of the Golden Gate, and I can tell you there's not four of them," Tarik explained. "There's four _hundred_ of them. The others are hiding, in case of trouble. We do not want to fight them."

"Then how will we pass through?" Abeke asked.

"We will have to pay with whatever we got that they will want," Tarik said.

The group returned to the men.

"What is it now?" asked the first Guardian.

"We would like to pay so we can travel through your Gate," Tarik said. "but we don't know what you would want from us."

"Well, treasure is one thing," said the fourth Guardian.

"Yes, treasure," agreed the others.

"And rare items," said the third.

"Yes, rare things," echoed the other three.

"How about this?" Tark asked, handing them a small puch.

"What is it?" the first Guardian asked.

"A bag of something even more valueable than any treasure you could imagine," answered the Greencloak.

"Which is...?" asked the second.

"Advice," Tarik said.

"Advice?!" shouted the first Guardian. "Is this some kind of joke!"

"No, it is not," Tarik said. "Open the bag and read it yourself."

So the four men did and looked amazed. They looked back at Tarik then back in the bag. Their eyes opened wide, and grins appeared on their faces.

"Alright, fine," said the first. "Go in, before we change our minds."

The four men left our boat and soon, the Golden Gate opened. The four young Greencloaks jumped up in the air in glee. Realizing what they just did, though, Rollan and Meilin stopped. Meilin just put on a serious face. Rollan leaned on one of the boat's poles to look like his cool self. Conor rolled his eyes. But he was curious about what was in the bag, what the advice was. So he aproached Tarik.

"What was in the bag that let us pass?" Conor asked.

"Oh, nothing important right now," Tarik said while grinning.

Tarik left Conor and Briggan. But Abeke came up to them, Uraza probably in her passive state now. Jhi was also in her passive state, probably angry that she had to get out of it in the first place. Essix was soaring above the boat, looking around for danger. Briggan just stood beside Conor, not wanting to leave his side.

"What's with him all of a sudden?" Abeke asked, talking about Tarik's new behavior.

Conor shrugged. "No idea, but it helped us, right?"

"I just have...a bad feeling," Abeke said as she left.

Conor looked down at Briggan. Briggan just smiled a wolfy grin and hung his tongue out. Conor looked up and ahead of the Golden Gates. They were going to get the Iron Boar back, and then he would be able to fix his reputation with Rollan, Meilin, Abeke, and the other Greencloaks.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** **This is rather short, but it's fine :)**

* * *

Chapter 3

It's raining feathers...?

Abeke wandered the streets behind the Golden Gate. The Greencloaks had decided to split up, finding insider information about where exactly was the Iron Boar. Everyone went in twos; Rollan and Meilin, Tarik and Conor, but Abeke was the exception.

"Talisman, talisman, talisman..." she muttered, looking around for things that could help her.

Suddenly, a feather floated down in front of her. Abeke blinked. Was that...a "C" pattern on it? She shook her head. It probably was just her imagination. Then, another feather dropped in front of her...And another one...and another one...and another one! Soon, the alleys were filled with feathers. It was if it was raining feathers. More and more dropped down, and they made piles on the street.

"SCREECH!" Abeke looked up. A hawk was circling above her. Worse, the "C" shape she saw on the first was joined by more letters imprinted on the hawk. Abeke's mouth dropped open in shock. Completed, those letters spelled "Conquerers will Conquer!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Attack!

Meilin scanned the streets, trying to at least find something, just something to help find the talisman. She squinted as the sun's bright light suddenly flooded the place.

" Finally. Some sun." Rollan said, his voice clipped.

Meilin frowned. It wasn't like him to not make a joke about that, and the tone of voice just seemed... wrong.

" What's up?" she asked.

"Oh, nothing," he said. They went on without saying a word, although unspoken words were fluttering around them like a swarm of bees determined to get their honey back.

As they walked on, Meilin noticed that her hand was sweating, but not from the heat. But if it wasn't the heat, then what was it? There was nobody that could make her hand feel all clammy and hot except... Rollan. She dismissed that thought into the back of her mind, but couldn't ignore the tiny voices whispering in her head.

Out of nowhere Abeke came flying. Her hair was strewed all over her face, and her eyes were frantic and full of fear. It took Meilin a few seconds to realize that Abeke was holding a bunch of feathers, though Meilin couldn't understand why.

" They- they- are coming!" Abeke gasped out, clutching her side.

" The conquerers?" Rollan asked, realization dawning on his face.

Abeke panted for a few moments before replying. " They sent me a message- Conquerers will Conquer in these feathers."

" Then we must find Connor and Tarik and fight those Conquerers!"

And at that moment, the Conquerers attacked.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

The Conquerers

Rollan knew they were way outnumbered. There were at least twelve Conquerers and more seemed to be appearing every time he blinked. He looked up at where Essix was flying and figured she wasn't going to be very helpful. Sure, Jhi was lazy, and Briggan was not around, but it would've been great to have an animal as useful as Uraza was being. She was clawing through Bile infested animals as he stared.

Finally, Rollan decided he had to do something useful and he pulled out his knife.

He sliced at a Conquerer, almost getting him across the chest. Meilin was bashing heads with her quarterstaff and Abeke was shooting arrows in all directions. He was pretty sure that Conor and Tarik would've heard this racket, but what help would they be? There had to be at least twenty of them now and only three kids and three animals.

Jhi was kept passive, but it wasn't like the giant panda would've been able to do much. Jhi probably would've tried to calm them down. They were at war, they didn't need calming.

A Bile animal jumped on Rollan, knocking him backwards. He landed on the ground hard and he began to feel dizzy. The Bile animal, probably a hyena or something ridiculous, he could just hear its shreiking laughter now, clawed at him and he almost passed out. He felt blood oozing out of a new wound and it took him a moment to realize that the clawing had stopped. He opened his eyes and squinted at the blurry form of a huge black cat, a panther or something, being clawed up by Essix. Saved again by the falcon, how had he not seen that coming. The bird would go insane if he died. It was hard to imagine that anyone, even a spirit animal, could care that much.

He felt unable to get up and his leg hurt where he was pretty sure the animal had sunk their fangs in to it. He closed his eyes and actually wanted to pass out, but it didn't happen.

He heard someone shouting and when he opened his eyes, he could vaguely see the blurred form of Tarik bashing Conquerers. Where was Conor?

"Rollan, Rollan, can you hear me?"  
Ah, there was Conor.

Rollan mumbeled something about him sounding like he was speaking through a gag, and then he passed out.

When Rollan woke up, he was still lying on the ground, but in a completly different area. There was a small ammount of grass and there was a blanket covering him. There was no sun, and no moon, and it was still dark, so he figured the sun would be up in a few minutes.

Briggan was sleeping by Conor and Uraza and Jhi must've been passive, since they weren't arround. Essix was on a tree branch, the one closest to him. That felt good, at least it meant Essix hadn't left him. She flew off after giving him a good stare, as if she was trying to give him a telepathic stern talking to. Rollan didn't mind so much, at least that meant she wanted to make sure he was ok before going off.

He propped himself up on his elbows and looked around. Conor was snorring next to him and Abeke was a few feet away. Tarik was a few yards down, and he too was snorring. Where was Meilin?

He looked around for a few moments before spotting her sitting by the lake. A couple flowers had fallen from one of the trees above, a cherry tree probably, and landed in the pond. Normally Rollan would've climbed it and looked for food, but right now he felt like he had caught Sunset Death again, except he knew he hadn't. This wasn't one of Zhong's forests.

Rollan pushed the blanket off of himself. He saw that he had a makeshift bandage tied around his leg and blood had soaked through it. He sat up properly and limped over to where Meilin sat. Every step hurt.

"Hey," He said.

She jumped slightly, apparently not having expected anyone. "Hey,"

Rollan sat next to her, feeling awkward as he tried to avoid causing pain in his leg. He could feel the wound on his chest where the claws had sunk in. "What are you doing awake so early?"

"I'm on gaurd duty," Meilin muttered, "Why'd you get up?"  
"How long did I sleep?"  
"Fifteen hours, maybe more."

"There's your answer." Rollan said.

Rollan looked at their reflection in the pond. It was surprisingly nice to see them sitting so close. He wasn't sure what else to say, or what to do. He'd never exactly been completely alone with her. Like, someone had always been nearby. Now everyone was asleep. This was his golden opportunity to either make her think he was a nutcase or to love him. Did he really want either of those things?  
Well, the second one.

Another flower fell down from the tree and blew right in to his hand. He caught it and tucked it in her hair. Amazingly, she didn't pull it out. She just smiled and turned red, looking down at the lake.

A cold breeze blew hard in their direction and the water rippled. Rollan put his arm around her gently, and to his surprise, she didn't pull away. This was much better.  
It felt like no time at all that the sun was up and he heard the snoring cease. He jerked his arm away, and Meilin pulled the flower out of her hair and tossed it in to the pond. Meilin stood and helped Rollan to his feet. The others began to sit up groggily and they hurried to make themselves stand a few yards apart. To be honest, Meilin did most of the walking, as Rollan's leg felt like lead.

"Hey, Rollan, I didn't know you were up." Conor said, pulling a face as he looked at the two of them.  
He wouldn't figure it out, he'd never struck Rollan as someone who was increadibly bright.

"I didn't know you were awake either until your elephant snorring stopped, so we're even." Rollan said, limping from the stone wall that surrounded the pond up to the cherry tree. He leaned against the trunk, not to look cool, but so he didn't pass out. He wasn't sure he could keep up if they had to travel today.

Tarik stood and looked at Rollan suspiciously. "Are you going to be able to travel today?"  
No.

But Rollan wasn't going to make himself seem weak. He shrugged, "I'm not sure..."  
"We'll go a small distance, the Euran boarder isn't too far. If you need a break, just say so."  
Rollan didn't plan to.

It hadn't even been five minutes when he felt like he needed a break. At the five minute mark, he started to feel light headed. At the six minute mark, he collapsed. It probably would've been better just to tell them that he was already exhausted and couldn't do it anymore, but he wasn't liking that option. He didn't like to seem like the weak link. He was the only one that couldn't do passive, but at least, according to last night's ordeal and Meilin, Essix hadn't left his side either time that he'd passed out. She hadn't left him last night, and she hadn't left him when he was dying back in Zhong with the Sunset Death. Meilin hadn't wanted to leave him either apparently, so not only had she been up almost all night last night, she had only left last time because Conor and Abeke needed her help to get the cure for him. After he'd woken up, he'd felt weak and useless for days. Their mission had been delayed because of him. Sure, he hadn't been able to help getting sick, but he could've told them.  
Well, now he felt the same way. He was dizzy, sluggish, light headed, and he could barely walk.

"Are you sure you don't need a break?" Tarik asked again. This was like the third time.

Rollan shook his head weakly.

But of course, Conor practically knew him as well as he knew himself. Oh, why couldn't it have been Meilin? He wouldn't have minded if Meilin understood...but Conor...that was just embarassing. Especially after the way he'd treated Conor recently...

"I'm kind of tired," Conor mumbled, "Could we take a break?"  
Tarik nodded, as if he too knew what Conor was doing.  
"Conor, I'm fine." Rollan hissed.

But that was the only protest he gave. He sat on a log and took deep breaths, trying to get rid of the light headed feeling. He wasn't thinking straight, but when he saw Meilin, he knew that she felt as awkward as he did about this morning.  
"We've got another three hours of hiking," Tarik said, "It's about to get a lot worse, woods, deserts, blazing suns...I'm going to go refill our water tanks, I'll be back. When I get back we can set off again," he gave Rollan the look of concern that Rollan hated. "If you're ready."  
"I'm fine!" Rollan said for what had to have been the millionth time."  
Tarik gave an expression that said, "Sure you are, and I'm a fairy princess. But its cute that you think so, kid."

Rollan hated that look too.

Rollan stood up and started pacing back and forth about two minutes later.  
"Where is he...what's taking so long...ugh this is torture...something must've happened...where did he possibly go? We just passed a creek!"

But nobody paid much attention to his long running words.

Rollan stopped and leaned against the nearest tree, beginning to feel light headed again.  
"Are you ok?" Abeke asked, looking nervous.

Rollan didn't even try to pretend this time. He was feeling dizzy again, he was hot and sweaty, and he felt like he couldn't breathe.

He vaguely noticed Tarik walking back in to view, putting the water down, and looking at Rollan in a suspicious sort of way. Rollan saw him moving his mouth as if he was saying something, but everything sounded, how to explain it...fuzzy?

And then he passed out.

**Since the horizontal rule line thing is acting weird... **

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait...**


End file.
